Tuesday, February 23, 2010

24 hours until my plane takes off for Kenya, Africa. I don't know what to think. I don't even know if I can think right now. I am really, truly going to Africa! Me. Africa. Tomorrow. Eeee!

I wonder when it will ever sink in.

One year and nine days ago, someone asked me, "Have you ever thought about going to Africa?" And it completely caught me off guard. I gulped and said, "Um, no....not really?" Her immediate response was, "Well, you should think about it! I know about this orphanage that...."

The seed was planted.

I spent a great deal of 2009 thinking about going to Africa. I spent the last two months planning for it. And tomorrow, by God's grace, I'm flying halfway around the world to live at the orphanage there in Kinangop. I don't know what the Lord is going to do through me there, but I am excited for whatever it is. He is a big God -- bigger than I know, and His imagination is infinitely greater than mine.

Right now, I feel a little like Sam must have felt in The Fellowship of the Ring, as he paused on the very edge of the Shire to look out at the great unknown sprawling before him. When Frodo asked him why he hesitated, he said, "If I take one more step, it'll be the farthest away from home I've ever been."

I think I understand, now, what he meant. This will be the farthest away from home I've ever been too. And this one small step is, maybe, the biggest one I'll ever take.

Am I scared? A little. Do I feel adequately prepared to face everything that might lie in the days ahead? No. But, like the very last verse of Psalm 108 says, "Through our God we shall do valiantly!" It's not going to be me working on my own strength. It's going to be Him, working through me. I can do all things through Him who gives me strength.

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comments:

HI THERE, We can't wait to hear what the Lord is doing through you there Jenn!! The kids totally miss you here, but we know you are blessing a whole bunch of other kids there!! Eph 3:16-21 "I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 20Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, 21to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."Love you Jenn!!Nicole for The Shanton family